


Last Day of the Year

by eriah211



Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Awkwardness, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, M/M, New Year's Eve, Post-Season/Series 04, Secret Santa, Team Dynamics, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-09 01:14:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13470594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211
Summary: Somehow Chandler agrees to take part in a Secret Santa gift exchange with the rest of the department.





	Last Day of the Year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fififolle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fififolle/gifts).



> Written for fififolle for DreamWidth's Fandom Stocking 2017. Betaed by the wonderful fredbassett.

 

When Miles had told him they were going to do a Secret Santa exchange for Christmas, Chandler had simply nodded and kept working.  Looking back, he probably hadn’t been paying much attention to Miles, otherwise he would have realised (or at least suspected) that he was supposed to take part in it too.

When, to his horror, Chandler had finally noticed it, he had tried to back down politely, claiming to be too busy at the time, but Miles hadn’t wanted to hear any excuses so he had had to give up and draw a name. And among all the possibilities, it had been Mansell’s.

He had gone back to his office and had stared blankly at the little piece of paper until Miles had taken pity on him and offered to swap their names.

“Look, you don’t need to panic," he said, discreetly handing him his piece of paper. “Just this once, I‘ll let you have the easy one and I’ll buy something for Mansell, OK?

Chandler unfolded the paper, expecting to find Miles’ name, or maybe even Buchan’s, but he was completely wrong about that.

“Kent? How is he the easy one?” Chandler asked, confused.

“It’s the easy one for you, he’ll love anything you buy for him,” Miles answered, a mischievous smile on his face. “No matter what it is, he’ll probably cherish it forever.”

Chandler hesitated, wondering if Miles was trying to trick him somehow.

“If you’d rather buy something for Mansell...” Miles said, leaning to pick his paper from Chandler’s desk.

“No!” Chandler replied immediately, putting it out of Miles’ reach. “All right, I’ll buy something for Kent.”

“Good,” Miles said, pleased. “Just remember: a gift under £15, nothing too fancy. And don’t overthink this, as you usually do, remember it’s just a silly gift exchange between friends.”

 

\---------------------------------------

 

But of course he had overthought it.

There was one day left until the exchange of presents and Chandler had already bought and then returned five different gifts for Kent. Too expensive, too silly, too old-fashioned, too personal, too expensive again. Time was running out and he still didn’t know what he could possibly buy that would be appropriate for a situation like this.

A silly exchange of gifts between friends, Miles had said. Back when he had started working in the department, Chandler would have pointed out that they were colleagues, not friends, and that he was their DI, but too many things had happened since then and he was not daft enough to believe that now. He was still their boss, but he considered them his friends as well and goodness knew that after so many mess-ups and failed arrests, he didn’t have as many of those as he used to have.

After a last desperate trip to the shopping centre, Chandler went back home with a beautifully wrapped infinity scarf that a cheerful shop assistant had assured him was very popular among young men that year. Chandler could only hope it was true.

Finally, the day arrived and as Chandler had expected, every exchange of presents was followed by teasing and jokes. He got a faux leather diary and a desk calendar with photos of kitties from Riley and everybody immediately demanded he kept the calendar on his desk the whole year.

“If I walk into your office and I don’t see the calendar, I’ll file a formal complaint,” Riley claimed.

Then it was his turn and when he handed the present to Kent, Chandler saw the young man’s face light up even before he opened it. When Kent unwrapped the gift and saw the scarf, his smile became even brighter, even though Chandler had thought that would be impossible.

“Since you insist on driving a scooter to work,” Chandler felt the need to justify his lack of originality, “I thought you could make good use of a scarf in this cold weather.”

“Thank you very much, sir,” Kent said, holding the scarf as if it was the best present he had ever received.

Standing by Kent’s side, Miles turned to give Chandler a knowing look and grinned. It looked like his sergeant had been right, Chandler thought. As he usually was.

 

\---------------

 

Chandler saw Kent wearing the scarf to work the next day, and the day after that.

The sight of it around the young man’s neck caught his attention every time and much to his surprise, he felt a pang of disappointment when the next day he saw that Kent wasn’t wearing it. It was ridiculous, he chastised himself, had he expected Kent to wear it every day for the rest of the winter?

Christmas came and went and the chaos that always surrounded that time of the year got them very busy for a while. Chandler still kept an eye on Kent, simply out of curiosity, he told himself, but he didn’t see him wearing the scarf again.

On the last day of the year their shift was strangely calm and Chandler decided to let the team go home early. They all had worked enough extra hours over the last weeks to claim a full week of holidays so Chandler guessed they well deserved it.  Nevertheless, by the end of the shift, long after the others were gone, Kent was still there, tidying up his desk thoroughly.

“Kent, there’s no need to do that now,” Chandler told him. “Surely you have somewhere better to be.”

“Not now, not really, sir, and well, I was just waiting for you to finish,” Kent answered fidgeting nervously.

He put the last case files in his desk drawer and then took out something Chandler immediately recognized. The scarf.

“It’s OK, Kent, I’ve already finished, we can both call it a day, don’t you think?” Chandler said, smiling fondly.

“Yes, of course, it’s just that...” Kent hesitated, gripping the scarf tightly, and then squared his shoulders as he looked straight at him. “I was wondering if you would want to go for a drink with me... to say goodbye to the year?”

Right after the doomsday cult arrests, Kent had asked him a similar question, hesitating and disguising it as a team meet-up for a drink, but Chandler hadn’t had much time to think about it since short after that the bad news had ruined the festive mood. There was no way to misinterpret it now, Chandler thought. And it was surprising how it didn’t bother him as much as it would have once.

“I had promised myself that I’d ask you again before the year was over,” Kent said, clearly remembering the same conversation they’d had so long ago. “I’ve waited almost to the last minute, I know,” he added, huffing lightly. “But the year isn’t over yet.”

Chandler looked thoughtfully at Kent, a list of reasons why it would be better to turn down the invitation going through his mind immediately.

“Of course, if you are... busy,” Kent said, his confidence faltering already. “You must have some place to be...”

Kent was clearly giving him a polite way out. Chandler could claim to be busy and Kent would smile awkwardly and say goodbye and they would never speak about this again.

‘Don’t overthink this, as you usually do’. Miles’ words echoed in his mind as he struggled with himself to give Kent an answer.

“I’d love to go for a drink with you,” Chandler heard himself saying.

And it was the truth, he realised as he saw Kent’s face brighten up immediately to his answer.

He didn’t want to start the year adding a new regret to an already long list and he knew he would regret not having Kent look at him the way he was doing it now.

Chandler smiled back at him and wanted to see Kent’s bright smile directed at him very often in the new year.

 

END


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